The Oregon State bar issued a letter this afternoon rejecting a formal misconduct complaint against Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

The complaint, made by conservative radio talk show host Lars Larson and Newberg resident James Johnson, asked the bar to look into whether Kulongoski lied when he said he knew nothing about former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl while Goldschmidt was Portland mayor.

The complaints stem from statements by a former Goldschmidt speech writer, Fred Leonhardt, that he told Kulongoski about the sex abuse during a party in 1994, while Kulongoski was Oregon attorney general. In an affidavit filed in the Giusto investigation, Leonhardt said he also discussed the matter with Kulongoski on several other occasions.

Kulongoski said he never heard of the illicit relationship until Goldschmidt admitted it just before news reports in May 2004. The bar's inquiry was an attempt to sort out the contradictory statements.

The letter by Chris Mullmann, the bar's assistant general counsel, states that there was insufficient evidence of professional misconduct by Kulongoski to proceed with an investigation. To see a copy of the letter, click here.

"Mr. Leonhardt and Gov. Kulongoski have differing recollections of events that occurred more than a decade ago," Mullmann wrote. "I find that both Mr. Leonhardt and Gov. Kulongoski are credible in their recollections."

Kulongoski declined to comment on the ruling. His spokeswoman, Patty Wentz, said, "The letter is very clear, and there's not much to add to it."

Larson and Johnson have until Jan. 11 to have the ruling reviewed by the bar's general counsel, whose decision is final. Larson said he will appeal the decision.

"To come to the conclusion that you have two stories that contradict each other -- but that they are both credible -- is absurd," Larson said. "They don't want to look into this any deeper. The thing that they should do if they found that both stories have credibility is they should go on to find out what the truth is."

Leonhardt said he's disappointed but not surprised by the ruling. He also said he was amazed that the bar, the professional group that licenses and investigates attorneys, did not interview him.

And Leonhardt said there's a Catch-22 aspect to the bar's ruling. "The bar says it can't go on without hard evidence, but the only way it can get hard evidence is to investigate."